Soil Environ.

30(2): 155-159, 2011

www.se.org.pk
Online ISSN: 2075-1141
Print ISSN: 2074-9546

Short Communication
Surveying tubewell water suitability for irrigation in four tehsils of district Kasur

Ijaz Mehboob*1, Muhammad Siddique Shakir1 and Asrar Mahboob2

1
Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Kasur, Punjab, Pakistan
2
Maize and Millets Research Institute, Yousaf Wala, Sahiwal, Punjab, Pakistan
Abstract
Four tehsils of district Kasur (Chunian, Pattoki, Kot Radha Kishan and Kasur) were surveyed and five villages
were selected in each tehsil at random. Two water samples were collected from each village and were analyzed for
various irrigation water quality parameters. The results indicated that 60% tubewell were unfit from Chunian, 90%
from Pattoki, 90% from Kot Radha Kishan and 80% from Kasur tehsil. Overall, 20% of total tubewells water
sampled had quality parameters within the acceptable limits whereas 80% were unfit for irrigation. About 97%
waters were unfit due to high salinity (EC > 1250 mS cm-1), 63% were due to high sodium adsorption ratio (SAR >
10 mmol L-1)1/2 and 97% were due to high residual sodium carbonate (RSC > 2.5 me L-1). It may be inferred that use
of poor quality irrigation water will cause deterioration in soil health, which consequently will result in poor crop
production. Hence, it is emphasized that tubewell discharging unfit water should be used by following sound
management practices like precision land leveling, inclusion of high salt tolerant crops in traditional cropping
system, occasional deep ploughing in heavy textured soil, occasional flushing of the soil profile with heavy
irrigation to reduce the salt concentration in the root zone and application of organic and inorganic amendments
like pressmud, poultry manure, farm yard manure and gypsum or acid/acid formers etc, however the management
options must be on the basis of analysis of water quality parameters.
Keywords: Tube well, irrigation, brackish water, Kasur

The canal water supply is one cusec for 350 acres
(Ansari, 1995), which is not sufficient to meet the water
requirement of the crops raised under intensive cropping
system in Pakistan. Hence, to overcome the shortage of
surface water, farmers are forced to use ground water to
supplement the canal supplies for irrigation. Of 55 MAF
ground water pumped, 70-75% is brackish (Ahmad and
Chaudhry, 1988). The continuous use of such poor quality
ground water can cause salinity/sodicity. About 6.68 m ha
land in Pakistan has developed surface salinity/sodicity.
Many researchers (Hornick and Parr, 1987; Aslam et al.,
1988; Khan et al., 1991; Hussain et al., 1994; Ghafoor et
al., 1999; Murtaza et al., 2002; Mahmood et al., 2006 and
Ahmad et al., 2007) have reported that unscientific use of
brackish water deteriorates the soil health and crop yield.
Waheed et al. (2010) while studying the suitability of
groundwater for irrigation purpose suggested that for long-
term utilization of a soil and to prevent any potential
hazardous effects on its health, recommendations regarding
irrigation water must be with respect to textural class of the
soil. Also, they proposed the cultivation of Atriplex spp.,
Acacia and Eucalyptus on degraded soils being irrigated
with poor quality water. Whereas, Ali et al. (2009) declared
that the ground water quality is of great concern for the
sustainability in soil health and crop productivity. Also,
Kashif et al. (2009) prioritized the monitoring of water
quality for preventing the hazards of irrigation water.
Similarly, Keshavarzi et al. (2010) recommended proper
management of irrigation water to minimize the login of
salts to soil because of the usage of poor quality irrigation
water. While, Bennett et al. (2007) declared that the usage
of brackish water for irrigation without its proper
management is a major source of soil salinity.
Now as the quality of irrigation water has a major
concern in sustaining the soil health and crop production so,
keeping this in view the present study was undertaken to
assess the suitability of water for irrigation of different
tubewells running in four tehsils of Kasur district.
Four tehsils of district Kasur are Chunian, Pattoki, Kot
Radha Kishan and Kasur. Five villages from each tehsils
were selected during 2008-2009 to monitor the tubewell
water quality for irrigation. Two tubewells per village were
randomly sampled. The water samples were collected after
half an hour running of tubewell. The analytical work was
carried out in Soil and Water Testing Laboratory, Kasur
following the methods described by U.S. Salinity
Laboratory Staff (1954). The water samples were analyzed
for EC, cations, anions and then SAR and RSC were
computed as under:

*Email: zaeem_methabacha@yahoo.com
2011, Soil Science Society of Pakistan (http://www.sss-pakistan.org)
156 Tube well water suitability
SAR = Na+/ (Ca++ + Mg++)/2
-- -- ++ ++
RSC = (Co3 + Hco3 ) - (Ca + Mg )
For assessing the suitability of water of the sampled
tubewell, the results were compared with the irrigation
water quality criteria used by Malik et al. (1984) which is
presented in table 2.
The information on irrigation water quality of forty
tubewells running in twenty different villages of four tehsils
of the district Kasur are given in table 1. The criteria used
to compare the data are given in table 2. The results are
discussed as under:
Tehsil Kasur
The EC of the water samples ranged from 544 to 3235
mS cm-1, SAR from 0.09 to 13.95 (mmol L-1)1/2 and RSC
from 0.0 to 15.2 me L-1. Out of ten water samples, 1 was fit,
1 was marginally fit and 8 were unfit for irrigation (Table
3). Amongst the unfit, 7 were unfit due to high EC, SAR
and RSC whereas 1 was unfit due to high SAR and RSC.
The farmers are advised to use marginally fit water by
managing occasionally deep ploughing along with heavy
irrigation of good quality water and application of 3-4
trollies of organic manure (OM) in order to tackle the little
hazard of salinization contained in with the use of these
waters. However, if this marginally fit water is the only
available source then along with above said practices, the
salt tolerant crops (Barley, wheat, sorghum, rice) and fruit
trees (Guava) etc should be added (Waheed et al., 2010). So
for as the usage of 8 unfit water is concerned, it is
emphasized that their usage should be avoided because they
will deteriorate the soil by salinity/sodicity build up.
However, if in some areas these underground unfit waters
are the only source of irrigation water then these waters
could be used with special management practices (Ashraf et
al., 2005; Ahmad et al., 2007). For example one water
sample, which is unfit due to high SAR and RSC, is
hazardous because its high SAR will affect soil
permeability and infiltration. Also there will be a toxic
effect of high concentration of sodium on sensitive crops.
Whereas high RSC of these waters will further aggravate
the sodium hazard by raising the SAR values (as increased
concentration of Co3-- and Hco3-- reduces the calcium and
magnesium concentrations in soil by precipitating them
resultantly sodium concentration becomes high in soil
which will raise the soil SAR values). The hazardous
effects of such high SAR and RSC irrigation waters could
be reduced by increasing the calcium concentration through
the addition of gypsum/calcium chloride or acids/acid
formers either in water or soil (Ali et al., 2009). Application
of pressmud, poultry manure, farm yard manure, deep
ploughing and cultivation of halo tolerant species/crop
cultivars have also been advised to ameliorate the
hazardous effects of such underground water applications
(Ashraf et al., 2005; Ahmad et al., 2007; Farooq et al.,
2008).
Regarding seven water samples unfit due to high EC,
SAR and RSC, there will be salinity problem due to their
high EC (ranged from 1203 to 3235 m S cm-1 because of
which 949 to 2552 kg of salts will be added in an acre as a
result of their 1 acre foot of irrigation) along with sodicity
because of high SAR and RSC as discussed earlier. In order
to deal with such hazardous water where their use is
unavoidable and farmer has no other option then the
following integrated approaches are feasible:
Maintaining the leveling of land
Occasional deep ploughing
Application of gypsum, pressmud,/poultry manure/farm
yard manure.
Growing of high salt tolerant crop instead of traditional
cropping system
If the soils have also become degraded then the above-
discussed hazardous water could be used to grow
Eucalyptus and Acacia for timber and fuel, and Atriplex
spp. for grazing purposes (Waheed et al., 2010).
Adoption of biosaline agriculture, addition of farmyard
manure/green manure, sheep, goat and fish farming can
also add in the farmers income under these types of
situations (Pervaiz et al., 2003).
Tehsil Chunian
Amongst the measured water quality parameters of the
sampled tubewells of Chunian tehsil, the EC ranged from
643 to 2500 mS cm-1, SAR from 0.29 to 15.9 (mmol L-1)1/2
and RSC from 0.0 to 15.2 me L-1. The analytical data
indicates that 6 water samples were unfit, 3 were fit and 1
was marginally fit (Table 3). Among the 6 unfit, 3 were
unfit due to high EC and RSC which could build up soil
salinity by accumulating high amounts of salts (1594 to
1972 kg salts could be added per acre foot irrigation as the
EC of these 3 samples ranges from 2020 to 2500 mS cm-1).
The management practices for such type of waters are
addition of gypsum in order to neutralize the high
concentration of Co3-- and HCo3-- on one hand while using
high salt tolerant crops, occasional deep ploughing and
flushing of soil profile with good quality water on the other
hand are advisable practices under the situation. Irrigation
scheduling (reduction in interval of irrigation compared to
traditional irrigation) and addition of organic matter could
also help in ameliorating the hazardous effects of such
water. For the remaining 3 unfit water samples that were
unfit due to high value of all the three quality parameters
 Mehboob, Shakir and Mahboob 157

i.e. EC, SAR and RSC, the hazards contained in these
waters and the management practices related to their usage
have already been discussed in the section of tehsil Kasur.
Tehsil Kot Radha Kishan (KRK)
It is evident from the data of waters of tehsil KRK that
value of EC ranged from 964 to 3292 mS cm-1, SAR from
2.37 to 20.0 and RSC from 1.7 to 10.8 me L-1. All the ten
samples were unfit for irrigation. Fifty percent waters were
hazardous due to high EC and RSC while the remaining
fifty percent were unfit due to high EC, SAR and RSC
(Table 3). Recommendations regarding the usage of these
hazardous waters are alike as discussed for the waters of
tehsil chunian.

Table 1: Analysis of water sample for different water quality parameter (EC, SAR, RSC) of the entire tubewell
running in four tehsils of district Kasur
Name of Village Farmer Name EC SAR RSC Possible amount of salt that
Tehsil Name (mS cm-1) (m mol (me L-1) could be added per acre
L-1)1/2 foot of irrigation (kg/acre)
Kasur Naul Nadeem Haroon-u-Rashid 1641 10.0 5.8 1295
Hassan Ali 544 0.09 Nil 429
Pattwan Ghulam Rasool 1491 10.1 6.0 1176
Kalan Muhammad Bashir Ahmed 1203 10.03 6.2 949
Bulandi Utar Sheikh Siddique 1421 11.7 6.3 1121
Shabbir Ahmad 1390 11.1 7.8 1097
Dolay Wala Muhammad AshrafTahir 3235 14.3 9.9 2552
Maqbool Ahmad 1195 2.74 Nil 943
Sahad Muhammad Yousif 1686 13.95 9.17 1330
Muhammad Munir 1876 10.35 5.0 1480
Chunian Chunian Brother Agri. Farm 2363 15.9 5.4 1864
Haji Ghulam Abbas Malik 643 0.56 0.7 507
Kando Imaran Ali 4375 39.9 15.2 3451
Ranghar Amir Mushtaq 653 0.29 Nil 515
Umar Bagga Muhammad Ibrahim 1459 7.1 6.3 1151
Muhammad Ibrahim 2500 12.65 8.33 1972
Kul Sher Muhammad 1041 1.13 0.6 821
Asroop Khan 792 0.82 Nil 625
Munawarian Shabir Iqbal 2020 8.39 3.45 1594
Munir Iqbal 2150 8.51 3.53 1696
Pattoki Bhai Kot Rehmat Ali 1440 8.20 1.50 1136
Ali Khan 1000 4.23 0.80 789
Jaguwala Ali Muhammad 2360 8.2 6.30 1862
Karam Elahi 2410 9.0 7.91 2138
Bhoy Asil Javaid 2416 13.2 8.5 1906
Muhammad Sharif 2260 10.7 8.4 1783
Juggian Master Ashraf 2178 8.6 6.6 1718
Riaz Ahmad 2785 8.3 5.6 2197
Hanjrai Amir Shehzad 3120 11.71 4.21 2462
Kalan Fazal Din 3210 11.93 4.67 2533
Kot Ghaniay Kay Muhammad Arshad 1465 10.2 7.6 1156
Radha Muhammad Aslam Zahid 964 2.37 1.7 761
Kshan Kot Nasir Ali Haidar Khan 1800 4.90 3.65 1420
Khan Nawab Mubarik Ali 1975 3.98 3.9 1558
Baghiarmar Muhammad Aslam 1997 18.36 7.3 1576
Malik Ashraf 2590 20.0 8.4 2043
Chack No. Chaudhry Sabbir 1701 14.5 10.8 1342
59 Bashir Ahmad 2995 13.6 5.0 2363
HalarKay Master Yousif 3292 9.7 5.8 2597
Paimar Muhammad Abdullah 2426 17.8 7.0 1914
158 Tube well water suitability

Table 2: Irrigation water quality criteria The comparisons of the results amongst the tehsils
showed that maximum number of fit waters (30%) were in
Status EC (mS cm-1) SAR RSE (me L-1) Chunian while minimum in KRK where none of the water
Suitable < 1000 6 < 1.25 was fit. Overall picture of the analysis data depicted that out
Marginal 1001-1250 6-10 1.25-2.5 of forty tubewells surveyed, thirty-two (80%) were
Unsuitable > 1250 > 10 > 2.5
Table 3: Irrigation water quality of forty tubewells running in twenty different villages of four tehsils in district Kasur
Name Name of Village Fit M. Unfit Unfit due to
of Fit EC SAR RSE EC EC SAR EC +
Tehsil + + + SAR+
SAR RSE RSC RSC
Kasur Naul 1 - 1 - - - - - - 1
Pattw\an Kalan - - 2 - - - - - 1 1
Bulandi Otar - - 2 - - - - - - 2
Dolay Wala - 1 1 - - - - - - 1
Sahad - - 2 - - - - - - 2
Chunian Chunian 1 - 1 - - - - - - 1
Kando Ranghar 1 - 1- - - - - - - 1
Umar Bagga - - 2 - - - - 1 - 1
Kul 1 1 - - - - - - - -
Munawanrian - - 2 - - - - 2 - -
Pattoki Bhai Kot 1 - 1 1 - - - - - -
Jaguwala - - 2 - - - - 1 - 1
Bhoay Asil - - 2 - - - - - - 2
Juggian - - 2 - - - - 2 - -
Hanjrai Kalan - - 2 - - - - - - 2
Kot Chaniay Kay - 1 1 - - - - - - 1
Radha Kot Nasir Khan - - 2 - - - - 2 - -
Kishan Baghiarmar - - 2 - - - - - - 2
Chack No. 59 - - 2 - - - - 1 - 1
Halar Kay Paimar - - 2 - - - - 1 - 1
Total 5 3 32 1 - - - 10 1 20
discharging unfit water for irrigation amongst which twenty
Tehsil Pattoki
were having values of all the three quality parameters (i.e.
Analysis of samples from 10 tubewells in the Pattoki EC, SAR and RSC) higher than the fit limits. The other ten
tehsil illustrated that EC varied from 1000 to 3210 mS cm-1; waters were having higher values of EC and RSC while
SAR from 4.23 to 13.2 (mmol L-1)1/2 and RSC from 0.80 to among the rest of the two unfit waters, one was having high
8.5 me L-1. It is apparent from the data presented in table 1 values of SAR and RSC and the other having high value of
that 90% of the waters had values higher than the fit limits EC only. As these 80% unfit waters have a variety of
and were in unfit class. The remaining 10% represent hazards in them so in order to deal with these no single
irrigation water of good/fit quality. Distribution of the management practice will tackle their harmful effects. So,
hazards was almost similar to those in the water of Chunian several practices could be adopted integratedly to handle
tehsil (i.e. 3 waters were unfit due to high EC and RSC them if such waters are to be used necessarily. Moreover,
while 5 were due to high EC, SAR and RSC) except one the results regarding the nature of hazards i.e. proportion of
that is unfit due to high EC only (Table 3). The EC, SAR and RSC in 32 unfit waters showed that 31 were
recommendations regarding the usage of these unfit waters having high values of EC ranging from 1390 to 4375 mS
are the same as discussed for the waters of Chunian tehsil. cm-1 which could add 1097 3452 kg of salts per acre with
The only addition regarding the use of one water that was every one acre foot of irrigation (Table 2) and may result in
unfit due to high EC is that it could be used by mixing with soil deterioration by reason of salinity build up and 31 were
good quality water in the ratio of 2:1 (two parts of tubewell having high values of RSC which varied from 3.45 to 15.2
water and one part of good quality water). me L-1 and could increase the sodium hazards by reducing
 Mehboob, Shakir and Mahboob
Ca and Mg concentration in soil and raising SAR of the soil
solution in soils. Whereas, 20 waters were having high
values of SAR ranging from 10.03 to 39.9 (mmol L-1)1/2 and
could affect soil permeability and infiltration due to high
concentration of Na+ whose high concentration is also toxic
for sensitive crops.
Conclusively, it is emphasized that use of brackish
water should be avoided to maintain soil health and for
sustainable crop yield where good quality water is
manageable. However, if the use of brackish water becomes
necessary in an area where underground water may be the
only source of irrigation, then such water should be used
with proper management practices like precision land
leveling, inclusion of high salt tolerant crops in traditional
cropping system, occasional deep ploughing in heavy
textured soil, occasional flushing of the soil profile with
heavy irrigation to reduce the salt concentration in the root
zone, scheduling of irrigations (i.e. increasing the number
of irrigation by reducing the amount of water per irrigation
keeping the total delta of water for the crop same), using
high EC water by mixing with good quality water and
application of organic and inorganic amendments like
pressmud, poultry manure, farm yard manure and gypsum
or acid/acid formers, however the development of
management options requires the analysis of quality
parameters.
References
Ahmad, N. and G.R. Chaudhry. 1968. Irrigated agriculture
of Pakistan. Shahzad Nazir. Lahore, Pakistan. p. 5.1-5.16.
Ahmad, S., J. Mohyuddin, R.A. Mugal and M.N. Bhutta.
2007. Testing of Ristech material for management of
brackish groundwater for soil reclamation and crop
production. Pakistan Journal of Water Resources 11: 27-
34.
Ali, M.S., S. Mahmood, M.N. Chaudhry and M. Sadiq.
2009. Irrigation quality of ground water of twenty
villages in Lahore district. Soil and Environment 28(1):
17-23.
Ansari, A. 1995. Snowfall and water crises. The Dawn
Friday, 5th July, 1995.
Ashraf, M., Rahmatullah and M.A. Gill. 2005. Irrigation of
crops with brackish water using organic amendments.
Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences 42: 33-37.
Aslam, M., R.H. Qureshi, N. Ahmad and S. Muhammad.
1988. Response of rice to salinity shock at various growth
stages and type of salinity in rooting medium. Pakistan
Journal of Agricultural Sciences 25: 199-205.
Bennetts, D.A., J.A. Webb, M. McCaskill and R. Zollinger.
2007. Dryland salinity processes within the discharge
zone of a local groundwater system, southeastern
Australia. Hydrogeology Journal 15: 1197-1210.
159
Farooq, M.R., M.A. Haq, J. Akhtar, M.A. Randhawa and T.
Maqsood. 2008. Comparative response of wheat
(Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes to brackish water at
seedling stage. Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences
45: 439-443.
Ghafoor, A. and M. Masood. 1999. Soils, tubewell water
quality and wheat yield in different sections of a canal in
the wheat cotton cropping zone. Pakistan Journal of
Agricultural Sciences 360-2:6-9.
Hornick, S.B. and J.F. Parr. 1987. Restoring the
productivity of marginal soils with organic amendments.
American Journal of Alternate Agriculture 11: 64-68.
Hussain, T., M.A. Abbas and A. Javaid. 1994. Efficient
utilization of high RSC water through biological
approach. Journal of Drainage Research 27: 46-49.
Kashif, S.R., M. Akram, M. Yaseen and S. Ali. 2009.
Studies on heavy metals status and their uptake by
vegetables in adjoining areas of Hudiara drain in Lahore.
Soil and Environment 28(1): 7-12.
Keshavarzi, A., H. Etesami, M. Jamei and M. Nadi. 2010.
Effect of indiscriminate removing ground water on
irrigation waters salinity in arid area, Central Iran.
Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Science 4: 5283-
5290.
Khan, G.S., M. Akram, Z. Gondal and T. Afzal. 1991.
Quality of ground water. Land Farm and Drainage
relationship in a semiarid tract around Lahore (Pakistan),
11 Summer Season (per monsoon). Pakistan Journal of
Soil Science 6: 35-39.
Mahmood, S. and A. Maqbool. 2006. Impacts of
wastewater irrigation on water quality and on the health
of local community in Faisalabad. Pakistan Journal of
Water Resources 10: 9-22.
Malik, D.M., M.A. Khan and T.A. Chaudhry. 1984.
Analysis manual for soil, plant, and water. Soil Fertility
Survey and Soil Testing Institute, Punjab, Lahore,
Pakistan. 74p.
Murtaza, G., S.H. Shah, A. Ghafoor, S. Akhtar and N.
Mahmood. 2002. Management of brackish water for crop
production under arid and semiarid conditions. Pakistan
Journal of Agricultural Sciences 39: 166-170.
Pervaiz, Z., S.S.H. Kazmi and K.H. Gill. 2003.
Characterization of ground water in Gujrat district.
Pakistan Journal of Soil Science 22: 48-54.
U.S. Salinity Lab. Staff. 1954. Diagnosis and Improvement
of Saline and Alkali Soils. USDA Handbook No. 60.
Washington D.C., USA p. 83-126.
Waheed, A., R. Khalid, T. Mahmood, M.T. Siddique and
A.S. Javed. 2010. Quality of groundwater for irrigation
in tehsil Texila of district Rawalpindi, Punjab. Soil and
Environment 29(2): 167-171.